OMG VD!

[cavedwellers]

[Gosh you guys, there must be a holiday on! One of the bigger, more well-lit caves has been decked out for a PARTY, with heart-shaped BALLOONS and also red and white STREAMERS decking the stalactites and shit. There are BUCKETS filled with LITTLE CANDY HEARTS, and there is a FOUNTAIN featuring a rosy-cheeked CUPID who is PEEING PINK LEMONADE into a basin. Also ther are CUPS in case you couldn't tell the LEMONADE was for DRINKING.

Also, everything is HEAVILY SPIKED WITH APHRODISIACS. Eating or drinking the party favors will make you want to MAKE OUT with anyone who gets IN STRIKING DISTANCE. Have fun with that!]

Comments

[ice_and_steel]

Well, he is a child. One wouldn't expect him to measure up to someone who's sexually active.

[lifestudies]

Ah, that does make sense. I am not used to seeing children displayed like this.

[ice_and_steel]

Apparently it displays purity, or something. It was all the rage in Jidoor, which is a town famous for its artists, a fwe years back.

Though I'm not sure where the public urinating bit comes into that.

[lifestudies]

Interesting. I would have thought it displayed vulnerability, more than anything. Particularly in a child who has clearly never trained to defend itself.

[ice_and_steel]

I think that's supposed to be the point. They're vulnerable in part because of their innocence; probably to provoke some kind of protective instinct. Art theory was never my strong point, though.

[Because most works of art didn't survive when I was done with the cities that housed them.]

I'm still not sure why the, um, method of lemonade delivery, though. [looks at her cup of same, shrugs, sips from it anyway]

[lifestudies]

Could it be humorous? I think one of my teammates might have thought so. Unless it would make him yell about how gross it was. It can be hard to predict him sometimes!

[nom nom candy]

[ice_and_steel]

It seems likely.

...then again, I knew someone who would've done a statue like this of a man full-grown with the same, er, plumbing design, just for the shock value.

[munches a handful of chocolate]

[lifestudies]

Hopefully with bigger equipment than this. Otherwise I imagine he would be quite the disappointment.

[ice_and_steel]

....Probably with absurdly enormous equipment. He would say that it would never do to disappoint a lady. Although I'd think that could also intimidate.

[lifestudies]

Maybe that would help your friend weed out the cowardly?

[ice_and_steel]

[half-chokes on lemonade] That's one way of looking at it. I've never heard that kind of reticence described as cowardice before.

[hmmm. If I try to touch him it will probably be much like touching Shadow unexpectedly and I really am not sure I can accurately cast Cure right now.]

[lifestudies]

[looking Celes up and down]

You wouldn't be intimidated that easily, would you?

[ice_and_steel]

[some people would call it a smile. most would call it a baring of teeth.]

No, I don't intimidate easily.

[lifestudies]

[gives her a sort of measuring stare for a moment longer]

[then snaps a fast, high kick at her head]

[ice_and_steel]

[well that was unexpected! She sidesteps rapidly, her arm coming up to block the kick, and balances on the ball of one foot to hook the other behind his ankle.]

[this is much closer to a smile, or rather a savage grin]

You play rough.

[lifestudies]

I'm not interested in people who can't.

[twisting free to get both feet on the ground again, aiming an open-handed strike at her solar plexus]

[ice_and_steel]

[it's been a while since unarmed combat training, and direct attack magic is probably cheating.] There is a certain freedom to sparring with a partner you know to be capable.

[sidesteps and puts a shield of ice where her chest was a moment ago]

But of course, I'm making an assumption, there.

[goes for a straight punch to the abdomen]

[lifestudies]

[there is a puff of smoke and then you are punching a log! while Sai is landing lightly a few feet away.]

Allow me to provide you with evidence, then.

[rushing in, low, for another attack]

[ice_and_steel]

[oooooh, that is a trick I want to learn.]

[she leaps into the air to let him rush under her, and adds an extra kick to the meat of his calf--don't want to do real damage to the knee when I'm not sure how much damage I can heal--to keep his momentum going farther than he meant]

[lifestudies]

[activating chakra in both hands and feet to catch himself against the cave floor before he overshoots too much, then using that same energy to launch him back again, catching her at the waist and knocking them both down]

[ice_and_steel]

[grunts as she lands on the cave floor with a ninja on top of her, and then braces to shove off the floor and flip their positions. She won't keep the advantage for long, he's damn fast, but she grabs his hands and puts her considerable strength into pinning them to the cave floor]

Nice moves.

[lifestudies]

[doesn't try to break her grip -- not directly, anyway. Instead just arches his back, curling up off the floor to go for a kiss.]

[ice_and_steel]

[oh. Yes. It is probably rude to bruise one's partner, so she loosens her grip a little, and kisses back a little clumsily. is it supposed to feel sort of tingly like this? because it's very nice.]

[lifestudies]

[has just been learning kissyface from an angry troll, so have some biting with that! not trying to draw blood or anything, but definitely as much teeth as tongue here]

[ice_and_steel]

[this is totally unlike what she has overheard from her soldiers talking about their conquests, but that little bit of sting is a nice contrast. She nips back and tries touching her tongue to his lip a little bit, fingers curling more gently around his wrists]